In the weeks since the attacks, details have emerged about an elaborate jihadi network also linked to two atrocities in Paris in 2015.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Charles Michel said more was being done to combat extremism, with 30 measures being introduced in Belgium including a ban on pre-paid mobile phone cards.

But he also hit back at critics of the small European state, saying: "When there is an attack like that of course that's a failure and nobody can deny this… [but] I cannot accept the idea that we're a failed state," according to the BBC.